Sunday’s Academy Awards audience declined from the show’s 2025 count, losing viewership in an important advertiser-coveted demographic, Nielsen data released Tuesday show. The 2026 Oscars TV audience numbers reveal several low-lights, including: Viewership declined 9%, from 19.7 million to 17.9 million. The drop was the first decline in audience in five years. The audience total was the lowest annual number in four years. Among adults 18-49, 2026’s 3.92 rating (equivalent to about 5.34 million people in that age group), fell 14% from 4.54 in 2025. The show has not topped 20 million viewers since 2019. 2026’s annual decline in audience of 9% was larger than the drop of two other major entertainment awards shows, the Grammys (down 6%) and the Golden Globes (also down 6%). In 2025, Nielsen’s “TV” audience total for the Oscars began including viewers who watch the awards show streaming on Hulu, in addition to those who tune into ABC’s network broadcast. ABC initially reported that its Oscar audience fell 8% in 2025 – but, then it added in its Hulu audience and “revised” the count upward to claim a 1% increase in viewership. Both ABC and Hulu are owned by the Walt Disney Company, which featured the Oscars on its streaming service for the first time last year. Politics have had a negative impact on Oscars viewership, as both show hosts and awards recipients have used the show’s platform to voice political messages. The mean-spirited, blatant leftist propaganda has turned off many viewers by focusing on politics, instead of celebrating entertainment and production quality. After decades in the 40-50 million viewer range, annual Oscars viewership has been in steady decline beginning in 2000, taking a break from its losses during the Biden Administration (when viewers could count on being subjected to less political vitriol). Like late-night talk shows that have abandoned entertainment for hateful political rhetoric, today’s awards shows are losing viewers due to what Hollywood in Toto’s Christian Toto describes as the “Trump Effect”: “Audiences know the assembled artists can’t help themselves when Trump is in office. They must Resist™ at all costs. And, if that means lower ratings, so be it. “President Trump has had a similar effect on the modern award show. These celebrity galas often feast on anti-Trump lectures, be it those ‘ICE out’ pins or mocking the First Family. The messages may differ, but the target is typically the same. President Trump.” “And, as a result, Hollywood, Inc. watched awards show ratings slump,” Toto explains.